The Fury of the Trophy
by TwelfthofMay
Summary: The hunter takes on a "black beast" in order to add another skull to his trophy wall.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Just a quick fiction depicting a hunt of a Predator. It originally had an alternate ending, but it was lost. The snippets in italics are flashbacks/memories. Obviously, I don't own anything. :)

* * *

The mist from the ship's floor crept like a ghostly vine up the Predator's trunk-like legs. The Predator at the dashboard cocked his head to the left and purred contently at the image that had flickered to life on the dashboard's monitor. A sweltering, steamy jungle lush with leafy, heavy growth glowed on the screen. The Predator's mandibles quivered.

The Predator parted the haze on the floor as he walked towards the rack of weapons that jutted from the pulsating walls. He paused as he passed his trophy wall. The shiny skulls winked in the dim, red-tinted light. Skulls with hollow eye-sockets lined the rack. The Predator stopped briefly to run a finger across the brow of a particularly vicious looking skull. Two tusks protruded and curved upward. A row of brutal, knife-like teeth lined the mouth. He remembered this kill quite vividly.

_The beast oozed black blood that ran down its armor-like hide in rivulets. It lunged at him, but he was ready. The Predator dropped to his knee and raised his spear. The barbed tip sunk with a sickening squelch into the soft underbelly of the beast. The beast's eyes, now face to face with the Predator's, widened with a look of mingled surprise and pain. The beast let out a decrescendo moan that ended abruptly. The Predator set the dead beast onto the ground and tore his spear from its dead body. He raised his thick arms above his head and let out a savage howl._

The Predator stared at the empty place on his trophy rack. It was a searing reminder of why he had come this far. He needed to fill it. He didn't know why. He had to. It mocked him every time he passed. It was a blank space on his shelf that needed filling. The Predator shook his head and sent his dreadlocks swinging. He could fill it. He knew he could. He had confidence. The Predator puffed out his chest with pride as he made his way to the weapons.

The array of high-tech weapons was impressive. The Predator surveyed the collection and chose carefully. He chose his traditional mesh-like net, which he wore around his torso. He selected thick body armor plates and a ribbed chest plate which all locked into place. He made a motion and blades shot out of his wrist cuff. They looked particularly menacing in the dim light. He checked his cloaking device. All fully functional. He flipped open his opposite wrist cuff and his reptilian eyes fell upon the keypad.

_He had watched it from high above in the ship from a window. Even though the scene grew smaller as the ship flew away, it was still very clear to him. He knew what was happening. The electrical blue lightning crackling through the air. Rippling through the air before the white-hot explosion blossomed and burned everything in its path. He bowed his head in respect for a moment, but then turned on his heel. After all, he had to prepare for the next hunt. He glanced at the bloodied skull dangling from his belt. His sash was stained with the fresh blood._

The Predator shook off the memory. After a moment's deliberation, he chose a plasma gun that aimed wherever he chose to lock. Onto his waist sash, he attached a sharp-edged boomerang-esque disc and a folded shuriken.

The Predator flexed, almost as if testing himself. His equipment flexed with him. It was no longer enhancers that weighed him down. It was a part of him. When he moved, it moved. They were one in the same.

The Predator returned to the dashboard. The ship was dropping into the atmosphere at an easy pace. The inky black of space was melting away and the stars were falling into clouds and instead of the icy moon, a fiery sun scorched the sky.

The invisible ship whizzed over the dense canopy of forest with just the slightest whisper of mechanical whirr. It dropped down in a shadowy clearing and landed softly.

A quiet beeping noise alerted the Predator that his ship had landed. He clicked twice and then folded his mandibles as he set his mask over his face. He lifted his hand in front of his mask and saw the heat from his hand.

The hatch at the back of the invisible ship slid open and the invisible hunter stepped onto the ground.

He made his way into the tangled mass of foliage and ascended a tree with the aid of his wrist blades and powerful hands and claws. From a thick branch, hidden in the shadows of the blanket-like canopy, he surveyed the forest. He absorbed it all.

He scanned for another sturdy branch on another tree and leapt without hesitation. He cleared the distance easily. He de-cloaked. With one arm, he hugged the tree and with the other he fingered a bone that dangled like a decoration off his sash. He paused to document the feeling of adrenaline that coursed through him. It wasn't a new feeling, but it was a welcome one. It was one of the few emotions he had ever felt. This was the hunt.

An amazing force took the Predator by surprise. An animal had collided with the Predator's back. His head jerked back violently and he teetered on the edge of the branch of the tall tree. He tried to keep his balance, but his clawed fingers were slipping, carving grooves into the tree. The animal was tearing at his armor.

The two were falling, locked together in surprise rather than in combat. They hit the soft, leafy ground with a muffled thud. As soon as they hit solid ground, the black monster had straddled the Predator. It was gnashing its double jaws and was raising its sharp tail above the Predator, ready to strike.


	2. Chapter 2

The barbed tail landed so close to the Predator's mask that it actually clipped it, scraping off a shaving of metal. The whip-like tail was re-coiling for another strike, but the Predator was ready this time. He bucked his body and rolled the unbalanced black monstrosity from his body. The black beast went sprawling. The two separated for a moment, and the Predator got a clear look at the monster.

It was familiar, but..

The monster lunged at him again. The Predator sidestepped and with a movement of both elegance and cruelty, he unsheathed his wrist blades and cut the monster's grooved shoulder as it lunged past him.

It skidded in the leaves and reared, clawing the air with elongated fingers. Ropes of thick, yellow blood seemed to fall in slow motion. Heavy splashes fell to the ground and ate hungrily at the leaves.

The memory came flooding back to him. Now he remembered. These were the creatures he had battled to gain his status.

The Alien's tongue lashed out and the jaws on it gnashed. It too seemed to be screaming in pain. The Predator stood transfixed by the scene before him.

The Alien seemed to swallow its pain and stopped screaming abruptly. It turned sharply on the Predator. It swayed on its ankles momentarily before letting out a shrieking war cry and charging.

The Predator raised his wrist blades for another assault only to discover the melted, charred remains of the blades that had once been there. The Predator countered quickly as he reached for his disc. He brandished it just in time to cut the barbed tip from the Alien's tail as it whizzed past his face. The severed tail tip flew into the air and landed

The acid burst from the tail splashed the Predator's mask. Streams of steam fogged the Predator's vision as the acid blood ate away at the cheek of his mask, exposing one side of his mandibles.

The Alien continued to whip the bleeding tail around, sending spurts of acid raining down.

Tiny droplets landed on the Predator and burned craters into his armor and skin. Snarling, the Predator stepped backwards out of range of the acid, and wielded his disc before him. The Alien was either very brave or very ignorant because it hurtled itself forward in a shambling, bleeding mass despite the disc.

The Alien's weight knocked the Predator to the ground. The pair was locked in mortal combat as they rolled over the verdant forest floor.

The Alien's second set of jaws was slathering the Predator's bare mandibles with hot, sticky saliva. It bit and nipped at him, splattering the Predator with his own phosphorescent blood. For the first time, the Predator experienced the chilling sensation of tasting his own blood.

The Alien snarled. It's stubby tail, still whip-like lashed behind it. It dug its claws into the Predator's chest, ripping the mesh-like net and ripping out chunks of Predator flesh. The Predator's glowing blood seeped from its wounds. The Predator decided he had enough.

With a tremendous burst of strength, the Predator bucked the Alien off his body. The Alien was thrown to the ground, thrashing violently. Leaves and foliage were ripped from the ground.

The Predator put all of his force into the disc as he did a half-spin and threw it. It sliced through the air before the Alien had time to react and lodged itself in the Alien's throat.

A cascade of acid burst forth and ran down the Alien in rivulets. It sputtered and acid flecked its teeth. It staggered, and fell. It's stubbed tail lashed out, but fell still mid-whip.

The Predator locked the disc back into place on his side and approached the Alien carcass. It was frozen where it fell in a grotesque pose. Its jaws were open and it's second set of jaws hung limp. The Predator clicked.

A wave of invisibility washed over him as he cloaked, and he wrapped a hand around the Alien's ankle and dragged it into the underbrush.

…

The mask wasn't totally ruined. The Predator turned it over in his clawed hands. He clicked almost irritably. It could still be used. He traced the rough edge where the acid had eaten. He flared his mandibles angrily. That was the only mask he had brought. He made a mental note to bring another next time.

The Predator stood back from his trophy wall. The Alien skull, carefully cleaned and polished, completed the shelf. The Predator idly toyed with the bony Alien finger that dangled from his waist sash. He clicked. He was happy with his decision to sever it and keep it as a decoration. The space on the shelf was filled, but the space inside of him was not. Greed as green as his own blood was seeping into his thoughts and it was re-working his motivations. He wanted more. He needed more. The Predator made his way back to the control panel and set the course towards a little planet far away called Earth.


	3. Alternate Ending

The Alternate Ending to The Fury of the Trophy

* * *

The Predator crouched low and hugged the thick tree branch with one thickly armored arm. He cocked his head to the side and surveyed the forest floor below. The world in infared showed no signs of life. The Predator clicked irritably. He de-cloaked. Normally, he would wait patiently, but this new emotion had gripped him in iron claws. He needed more trophies. It was an obsession, more so than it had been before.

The bored Predator lolled into a reminiscent state. Back years before to his first trophy. One of the only times in his life when he had felt such an intense emotion.

_The Predator had probed rather roughly along the creature's back for the spine._

Faintly, some sort of bird was chirping.

_It was no difficulty breaking the skin._

Some bushes below stirred, but infared showed a tiny animal scampering away.

When he had torn the spinal column and skull away and raised it above his head, it had splashed him with blood. The blood was still hot.

The Predator was sure he could feel the blood on him now. He looked down on his chest. It was hot like the blood, but still…

He dipped his fingers into it and pulled them away slowly…

The transparent saliva stretched.

The Predator cried out in both surprise and pain at the sudden claws that tore into his back. Instinctively, he swung down onto the next branch below. The branch shuddered and creaked under the Predator's weight.

The Alien let out a shriek and gave chase.

The Predator hopped from branch to branch, shaking loose leaves. The Alien shambled down behind him, closing in..

He was too high to jump and land safely…

The Alien's tail caught the Predator across the back, sending a spatter of glowing green blood across the Alien's face.

Just a few more branches…

The Predator jumped, cloaking while he did so.

But the Alien was faster.

The Alien's barbed tail protruded from the Predator's invisible chest. A burst of phosphorescent blood exploded from the invisible Predator. The Predator bawled in absolute pain and went stiff and rigid. The Predator's cloaking short-circuited and cracking blue electricity washed over his body. The Alien surveyed the Predator on the end of his tail like the bait on a fishing hook. With a violent flick, the Alien threw the Predator to the ground.

The Predator clasped his clawed hand over his wound and watched his own blood leak through between his fingers. He stood shakily. He was badly wounded, but not broken. The Alien shuffled the rest of the way down from the tree.

The Predator stepped back, leaving bloody green footprints where he once stood. This Alien was larger than the one he had fought yesterday, most likely it was older and stronger too. The Predator knew he could take this one. What a trophy he would be…

The Alien shuffled up to the Predator, but did nothing. The Predator reached for his spear, it expanded and contracted twice as if showing the Alien what it was.

The Alien cocked its head to the left, almost quizzically. The Alien opened its mouth slowly and spit projectile acid that splashed the Predator's already-burned mask and shoulder ammo as he turned to the side to dodge it.

The acid seared and burned. The Predator fumbled at his mask with bloody, slippery fingers. Air hissed out of the mask and he threw it to the ground and watched it be eaten before his eyes.

The Alien wasted no time. It charged at the Predator, and the Predator wasn't ready. They tumbled into the trunk of a large tree. The Alien lashed out its smaller tongue and bit the Predator's cheek, spraying green blood on the both of them.

The Predator was getting weaker. He had to buck two times to get the Alien off. The Alien charged again. This time, the Predator sunk the spear into it's back. The Alien howled and thrashed, trying to dislodge it. It rolled over onto its side and reached for it with its arms, but it could not dislodge it. Acid blood leaked from the wound in great amounts, hitting the ground and burning it.

This would be the time to retreat…this would be the time… 

The Predator flared his mandibles and bellowed at the Alien, trying to get its attention away from the spear. The Alien turned sharply and lashed out at the Predator with its tail. The tail caught the Predator's ankle and sent him crashing on his back.

The Predator tried to get to his feet, but the Alien was faster. With a heavy, clawed foot it stepped on the Predator's dreadlocks and held the Predator fast to the ground. The Predator snarled, his mandibles flaring angrily. The Predator lunged for his disc and with a sweep; he embedded the disc into the Alien's ankle. The Alien let out a shriek as it's ankle oozed acid blood onto the Predator's dreadlocks, burning off their tips and scorching them.

The Predator was weak. His chest was heaving and his eyes had lost their sharpness.

Now, if he didn't do it now he would die with dishonor…going out to hunt again was a mistake… 

The Predator brought his wrist to his face and flipped open the keypad that would induce the nuclear explosion. He slid the slider with a bloody and battered claw and activated it. Red numerals flashed by, counting down.

The greed did this…that emotion… 

The Alien shrieked and drove it's barbed tail into the Predator's chest one final time.

The earth-shattering explosion drowned out the sound of the Predator's howling of pain.


End file.
